Norwood Middle School: What do you love? Not love?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you have to decide on a school for yourself. There are so many pros and cons of every school. None are Mecca. We are very happy at Norwood. We have two children there, and they are very happy, well-adjusted, and are learning a lot in an environment that encourages learning. I have kids that would probably be happy most places, however. So why Norwood? We love the differentiation at a young age, we love the arts and music programs, the facility is fantastic, the "feel" of the school is warm, the parents are people we like, they make an effort at diversity, they don't shy away from talking about character and values. It's a great fit for us, but of course it may not be for everybody.

We come from strong education backgrounds, and find the academics very good. Could there be improvements? Sure. But I am pretty certain I might feel that way anywhere.

PP, thanks for a thoughtful post. I agree with some of what you said, although except for K-2 music, the music program needs improvement. Yes, the kids have music class several times a week, but after 2nd grade the quality of teaching is not anything near what the K-2 music teacher brings to the program. We know a number of families whose kids have been turned off to the music program since 3rd grade. Re character and values, while the school may not shy away from talking about them, it shies away from doing anything about behavior that doesn't reflect the values being discussed (see other posts/threads re bullying).

About the most competent teacher in K-2 is the music teacher, and maybe the art teachers, and I forgot, the PE teachers. Ahem. And that is what the school showcases, the parents assume that it must all carry over to the classrooms, that is, when the kids are in the classrooms and not trekking around the school with the disruptive transitions, which by the way are partly due to the famous ability grouping that is so important, only at this school, but not others. The school has good intentions, but...K,1,2,3 need lots of work, more in class time, fewer transitions, better teachers, perhaps fewer teachers...just wait till 7th or 8th?

My child has thrived on the stimulation of transitioning between teachers and classrooms. We chose Norwood in part because at a different school, our older child was bored by being stuck in the same classroom with the same teacher with no ability grouping. If your child struggles with transitions, Norwood isn't a good place. I can't think why the above poster ever sent their child to Norwood in the first place if they didn't think they would do well with the transitions, but rather than try to change Norwood, why don't you move your child to another school that doesn't ability group?

Don't be silly, this is about Norwood, not switching. Keep the focus here.
If teacher quality is not an issue at the school then why did we get an email months age explaining the big tuition hike? They said that they will be channeling money into professional development because they know that their teachers were stale.

What are you talking about? I didn't interpret the tuition email that way at all? Our child has no 'stale' teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do not understand how you arrived at the conclusion that teaching quality is bad because the school is spending money on professional development?!

Allow me to inform you that it is actually a GOOD thing for the school to be supporting professional development. Everybody needs training and refresher courses, even the good teachers. It is known as developing human capital, the single most important asset for many institutions, including schools.

As a parent I absolutely support Norwood in channeling money into professional development.

BUUUT, it has not been done before, soooo that means the right NOW we have some trouble.

How do you figure it hasn't been done before, we've had professional days every year we've been at Norwood?

[Anonymous]

Professional development has been a major component of Norwood ever since we first came to the school 9 years ago. Ensuring that this continues is crucial and important for any school that wants to thrive and constantly improve. I agree that PP misinterpreted the tuition increase email (PP who mentioned "stale teachers"). The vast majority of the teachers are enthusiastic and excited about teaching and learning new techniques to help children learn.

[Anonymous]

The other music teacher is just fine. She is still way ahead of the academic teachers in terms of polish, professionalism and proficiency in her subject area. Kids are just more jaded and easily bored at that age.
If the core teachers had her competency I would be happy.

[Anonymous]

I wonder how many of the "unsatisfied" parents posting here have sat down constructively with the school to discuss any of these matters? And I stress "constructive".

Surely, expressing it in this forum doesn't seem very constructive if you are part of the community and truly care about having the school make a change in a certain direction. (whatever that change may be)

Of course, it's also hard to tell how many are on either side of the fence here since we don't know who is posting what..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder how many of the "unsatisfied" parents posting here have sat down constructively with the school to discuss any of these matters? And I stress "constructive".

Surely, expressing it in this forum doesn't seem very constructive if you are part of the community and truly care about having the school make a change in a certain direction. (whatever that change may be)

Of course, it's also hard to tell how many are on either side of the fence here since we don't know who is posting what..

someone pointed out that the parent chats (which are constructive) have no impact and the school ignores a lot of what is said.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't consider a public parent chat with the head to be an appropriate forum to discuss unhappiness with a particular teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't consider a public parent chat with the head to be an appropriate forum to discuss unhappiness with a particular teacher

Well then the school needs to put in place a "forum" or method for parents to air their concerns.
That said, there are "complaints" made about individual teachers directly to the top.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder how many of the "unsatisfied" parents posting here have sat down constructively with the school to discuss any of these matters? And I stress "constructive".

Surely, expressing it in this forum doesn't seem very constructive if you are part of the community and truly care about having the school make a change in a certain direction. (whatever that change may be)

Of course, it's also hard to tell how many are on either side of the fence here since we don't know who is posting what..

+1 Nothing changed. Oh well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't consider a public parent chat with the head to be an appropriate forum to discuss unhappiness with a particular teacher

Well then the school needs to put in place a "forum" or method for parents to air their concerns. That said, there are "complaints" made about individual teachers directly to the top.

Completely agree. We get surveys about "school climate" and so on, but why don't parents get a chance to review teachers? One of my children has one now that is not doing a good job. There isn't any way to raise this. As far as the head of school goes, one of the complaints about him is that he doesn't get rid of ineffective teachers. So the board hired new division heads that, at least as far as the one who heads my children's current division goes, is a terrible hire. Yet they would rather stick with the new people than the old. So out he goes and we get administrators who do not inspire confidence in the least.

I think the reason parents have turned to DCUM so much this year is that the Board has gone off in a really bad direction and people feel there is nowhere else to turn. I know I hope that, by publicizing the issues, the Board might start to take them seriously because nothing else seems to be working. After today's e-mail announcing certain departures, it's hard not to feel like it is a sinking ship. Some of those people needed to go, but more of them needed to stay and become part of the solution.

[Anonymous]

The principals are hired by the Head of School, not the Board, as the Head clearly articulated during the process last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We get surveys about "school climate" and so on, but why don't parents get a chance to review teachers? One of my children has one now that is not doing a good job. There isn't any way to raise this.

You can always raise this with the division head and the head of school.

The parent peer groups are also a good place to share concerns with other parents and see how widespread they are. At least in LS the parent facilitators typically send the division head a brief summary of issues that were raised. And if you find that many people share your point of view, it is easier to make your case to administrators.

The chats with principals are not the place to discuss individual teachers, but you can voice concerns about teaching style, communication, classroom management, homework load in a way that can both promote a broader discussion and build a stronger foundation for a private discussion.

Norwood has issues, but I don't think lack of channels for communication is a major one. And both the LS head and head of school are very approachable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't consider a public parent chat with the head to be an appropriate forum to discuss unhappiness with a particular teacher

Well then the school needs to put in place a "forum" or method for parents to air their concerns. That said, there are "complaints" made about individual teachers directly to the top.

Completely agree. We get surveys about "school climate" and so on, but why don't parents get a chance to review teachers? One of my children has one now that is not doing a good job. There isn't any way to raise this. As far as the head of school goes, one of the complaints about him is that he doesn't get rid of ineffective teachers. So the board hired new division heads that, at least as far as the one who heads my children's current division goes, is a terrible hire. Yet they would rather stick with the new people than the old. So out he goes and we get administrators who do not inspire confidence in the least.

I think the reason parents have turned to DCUM so much this year is that the Board has gone off in a really bad direction and people feel there is nowhere else to turn. I know I hope that, by publicizing the issues, the Board might start to take them seriously because nothing else seems to be working. After today's e-mail announcing certain departures, it's hard not to feel like it is a sinking ship. Some of those people needed to go, but more of them needed to stay and become part of the solution.

Agree, there need to be individual teacher evaluations filled out by students and parents at the end of each year. The only trouble is that the complaints at this school are all over the place and I suspect that is why they have had trouble getting a grip. There are some selfish parents who care only about their little child, who might be "smarter", who dominates everything, some on the board themselves. Also, most parents don't know good teachers. They judge the teacher on silly things like how fast they responded to an email, or how much smiling goes on. The best teacher we have ever had there (4th grade) did no smiling and often ignored e-mail, and I was happy with her. The smiley warm fuzzy ones can be the laziest, sly ones who teach nothing but tell parents how wonderful Johnny is. I have never seen so much dysfunction, some teachers themselves are laughing at the mess privately, I know this.

[Anonymous]

If you think the solution is approaching the division heads, you should read some of the other threads here about Norwood and experiences with the division heads. Not all share that favorable view. Some of us have had extremely negative experiences with at least one of them.

In terms of teachers, there is nowhere to note, for example, that teachers themselves are misspelling words on the spelling lists or missing marking things wrong on tests. I should not have to regrade each of DC's tests to see how he really did. There are also teachers who answer e-mails requesting a meeting with "Johnny's doing great! Why do we need a meeting?" This is after several e-mails and notes that went unanswered. And ERB results? Forget it. Teachers say talk to admin and admin says talk to teachers. It's an endless (and pointless) loop.

I don't agree that retention of bad division heads is a Head issue. My understanding is that the board decided to retain the division heads after this year despite the concerns. That is on the board. My understanding is also that the board convinced the head to retire now and that it was not his decision.

[Anonymous]

I can assure you that other private and public schools do NOT operate this way.